Cessna 310 reported down crossing Atlantic Ocean....

Aviation Aviation News
1

Flightaware Flight Tracker Unconfirmed but N5030Q Cessna 310 was one of 6 Cessna’s crossing today, including a Cessna 206 N206TE, and 4 Cessna 172’s, N226Ca, N228CA, N16877, and N72813.

A Cessna 310, apparently a ferry flight from Greenland to Iceland, is down 50 miles west of Keflavik airport (BIKF) Last call made by the pilot indicated he lost both engines and had to ditch in the freezing cold sea. Nothing is known as for whats the cause for this but Icelandic coast guard was said being searching the crash site.

FAA Registry N5030Q

2

When I was in the Air Force I worked in the Search and Rescue coordination center in Iceland.

Actually worked one ditching, didn’t turn out well.

On the bright side the Icelandic SAR folks were really good at their job.

3

When I worked out of Toronto International Airport, I had a friend named Les Benson, who used to work as a test pilot for Canadair in the 50’s, 60’s.

He was a senior test pilot, a Canadian Chuch Yeager, among other aircraft test flew the Canadair built F-86 Sabres. He told me many aviation stories.

After his passing, I happened to be in a book store, and saw a book on the history of the F-86. I picked it up, and noted 4 entries with Les’s name on it.

One story, was an ejection over the English Channel, he floated for 6 hours. and was picked up by a German Fishing Boat.

The amazing part was, he never even told me that story???

4

From Airliners.net

At 15:50 local time, contact was made with RKV ICG centre from a Cessna 310, arriving from Narsarsuaq, which had lost power in one of its engines, 60 miles off Keflavik. In an effort to pump fuel between tanks its feared both engines failed and the pilot had to rely on gliding the aircraft. At the time he was decending through 7000 ft heading towards Reykjavik.

RKV ATC Centre inisiated emergency status in KEF and the ICG Centre sent its Super Pumas, TF-GNA and TF-LIF out to the incident site.

At 16:10 the Cessna 310 disappeared from radar, around 50 miles from Keflavik.

A Challenger 604 from the Danish Air Force was sent straight to the scene of the incident and a full search was carried out from that point.

TF-LIF arrived at the scene around 17:00. No sighting of the Cessna 310 had been made and no signal from the energency transmitter was noticed.

Three trawlers which were near the scene of the incident where called immediately into action and a full scale search was underway. A Cessna 172 aircraft was also involved in the search operation as well as various rescue boats from Slysavarnarfelagid Landsbjorg.

ICGs own F27 TF-SYN was sent out as a surveillance aircraft to replace the efforts of the DAF CL604. A patrol vessel from the ICG was also sent out to help the search efforts.

From a Ferry Pilot website;

Pretty much worse case scenerio. High seas, ice cold water, gliding a dead stick C-310 into 40 foot swells. (a friend of the pilot lost) NW said he didn’t start drinking until 3 hours after the crash – survival time in the water is estimated at 2 hours maximum, in a survivor suit. The name of the pilot was Jeff Hall and helped NW get in the business.

Raise a toast to a brave man, gents…

salute

Thanks for passing it on.

============================================

Also a US Navy Prowler down in the ocean off of Guam, with 4 persons reported in the water…

guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar … 12020/1002

5

An extensive search for an American pilot was launched yesterday afternoon after reports were received that his small Cessna 310 airplane crashed into the ocean 50 nautical miles west of Reykjanes peninsula, Icelands southwestern coast.

The pilot, who was the only one onboard, was traveling from Narsarsuaq, Greenland, to Reykjavk when his engines went dead, the first at 3 pm. He managed to send an emergency message about having trouble transferring fuel between tanks, Morgunbladid reports.

Shortly afterwards the pilot reported that he had also lost power in the other engine and that his airplane was hovering at an altitude of 7,000 feet. The Icelandic Coast Guard sent one of its helicopters TF-LIF towards the airplane. A Danish military aircraft had already begun searching for the Cessna.

Three fishing vessels located near the scene of the accident and Coast Guard cruisers were also called to the scene of the accident as well as the Coast Guard airplane TF-SIF, and other airplanes.

Head Icelandic Coast Guard pilot Sigurdur Heidar Wiium, who flew the TF-LIF helicopter, said the conditions had been very difficult yesterday. The waves were high and it was stormy, making it difficult to search in the ocean.

In the evening it began snowing and the visibility in the search area was poor. Captain Thorsteinn Eyjlfsson of trawler Baldvin Njlsson GK-400, which was fishing only 10 nautical miles away from the scene of the accident, said conditions for searching were extremely difficult.

The air search was called off late last night.

6

A very sad ending for the Cessna 310, however the update on the US Navy Prowler that went down in the Ocean, all 4 crew ejected, and all where rescued…

Prowler crew out of hospital
By Stephanie Godlewski
Pacific Daily News
smgodlewski@guampdn.com

All four crew members who ejected from an EA-6B Prowler Tuesday afternoon are now out of the hospital.

The crew ejected and the plane crashed about 20 miles northeast of Ritidian Point around 4 p.m. Tuesday. The men were rescued by HSC-25 helicopters about a half an hour after they ejected. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Guam Fire Department also responded to the incident and participated in the rescue operation.

All four crew members were transported to the Naval Hospital. Three crew members were treated and released as of yesterday morning. The last member was checked out during the day yesterday, according to Navy spokesman Lt. Donnell Evans.

The crew ranged in age from 27 to 41, but it is unlikely that their names will be released, Evans said.
According to the Web site aerospaceweb.org, the EA-6B costs around $52 million dollars. According to the manufacturer, Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, the Navy has been purchasing the planes since 1972, when they were deployed to Southeast Asia. Since that time, the military has continued to buy the planes and upgrades. The Prowler has been used in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Evans said the next step will be an investigation into the cause of the crash. There has been no word yet as to whether the investigation will involve attempting to retrieve the wreckage.

The last military aviation crash on Guam – when a HSC-25 helicopter crashed in the Fena Reservoir – was classified as a Navy safety mishap investigation. There has still not been any information released on the results of that investigation.

The crash classification for the Prowler incident has not yet been released by Navy officials.